Ex-IGP’s influence was bad news for Umno

The home minister had to interfere to stop the then IGP Musa Hassan from promoting and transferring his men who would continue working with criminal elements, claims Raja Petra.

PETALING JAYA: Former inspector-general of police Musa Hassan, before his retirement, had allegedly promoted and transferred the “right” police officers who will continue to work hand-in-hand with the triads, claimed popular blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin today.

However, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had interfered in this exercise, and this has caused a lot of problems for the Chinese underworld and crime syndicates.

“And that is why Musa recently gave his interviews – alleging interference by the politicians in the running of the police force. It is true that the minister blocked Musa’s every move,” said Raja Petra in his latest blog posting in Malaysia Today.

Raja Petra said that Hishammuddin had decided to act as he feared that a continuation of Musa’s influence in the police force would have had a backlash on Umno in the coming general election.

“They know that the voters are unhappy with the police force and that may cost Umno a lot of votes.

“Hence if the minister does not rein in the police, then there is a danger that Umno could lose a sizeable number of votes,” said Raja Petra.

In recent weeks, Musa had claimed that during his tenure as the IGP from 2006 to 2010, there had been political interference and inflitration of criminal elements in the police force.

He said that he had raised these issues through the “proper channels” to the prime minister and home minister, but to no effect.

He had also lashed out at his successor Ismail Omar, claiming that he was a weak police chief.

Musa’s detractors, however, had responded by saying that it was Musa who had allowed the triads to take control of the police force, of his alleged corrupt practices, and of his underhand tactics to “fix people up”, including his former boss Commercial Crimes Investigation Department (CCID) chief Ramli Yusuff.

Adding to the list of Musa’s detractors, Raja Petra claimed that the former top cop has many grievances against the government, the present IGP Ismail and Hishammuddin.

Musa’s role in Bersih violence?

Raja Petra said Musa’s bitternes was due to the government’s rejection of his request for a further extension as the police chief.

“He then asked to be made the Malaysian High Commissioner to Brunei and that too was rejected. Instead, he was given just a teaching job, which, to him, is a great insult when other retired IGPs before him were given ‘good’ posts,” he said.

The blogger also claimed that many suspected Musa’s role in the manner police acted violently against Bersih 3.0 rally-goers on April 28 this year.

“The fact that the Bersih 3.0 rally turned out the way it did is evidence that the top does not know what the bottom is doing.

“The prime minister gave very clear instructions that there must not be any police violence at all costs and this instruction was made clear to the IGP.

“However, as we all know, the reverse happened. And many suspect that Musa’s hand is at play here,” said Raja Petra.

Undermining Ismail

He said that Musa wanted to undermine Ismail, and to prove to the government that they made a mistake in not extending his (Musa’s) service.

Raja Petra said Musa’s game plan was for the government to retire Ismail and replace him with someone aligned to Musa and “who will not ‘disturb’ the Chinese underground and crime syndicates”.

Raja Petra also found it puzzling for PKR to be flirting with Musa, especially given his role in Anwar Ibrahim’s Sodomy l and Sodomy ll trials.

Musa’s recent public appearance is linked to his position as the patron of MyWatch, a newly formed PKR-linked NGO.

Raja Petra had first exposed Musa’s alleged links with the criminal triads in Malaysia Today almost five years ago.